Johnson & Johnson India Unveils Enhanced Paternity Leave to Give Fathers More Quality Time to Bond with Their Newborn
Johnson & Johnson India Unveils Enhanced Paternity Leave to Give Fathers More Quality Time to Bond with Their Newborn
Meeting the needs of 21st Century families, Johnson & Johnson India believes that family comes first. Johnson & Johnson’s new Global Parental Leave approach reaffirms how we want to set the agenda for working parents in India and around the world to help our employees be their best – at work and at home.
With an enhanced paternity leave policy at Johnson & Johnson India, new and adoptive fathers will now be entitled to eight weeks of paid leave during the first year to bond with the newborn or newly adopted child. For new mothers, the company has been offering up to 26 weeks of maternity leave for the last six years, well ahead of the industry.
“Championing work-life integration is critically important to us and to our future as a company. Enhanced benefits make us attractive towards Millennials and GenZs, who are critical to our future workforce. By extending parental leave benefits to fathers and adoptive parents, we also strengthen our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and support for the modern-day family—because every family is special,” said Indrajeet Sengupta, Head-Human Resources, Johnson & Johnson India.
As a leader in the care and development of healthy babies, we know how critical it is for both parents to be able to spend quality time with a child during the first year of birth or adoption. Our 125 years of heritage, backed up scientific and safety research, in caring for baby tell us how critical this bonding time is for the well-being of both child and parents.
“Active fatherhood provides the love and support mothers need after birth. With the exception of breastfeeding, fathers can help relief the pressure their spouse face by helping to bath, massage and care for their babies. What’s more the close relationship between father and child boost their child's physical and mental development significantly,” said Ram Shukla, Senior Director, Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson India.
A 2013 study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that the level of interactions between father-infant at age three months is able to predict whether the child will exhibit behavioral problems at the age of one. The effect in the lack of father-infant engagement tends to be stronger for boys than for girls, suggesting that boys are more susceptible to the influence of their father from a very early age.1
In another study, lead researcher Ronald Rohner observed that the influence of father’s love on a child’s development is as great as and occasionally greater than the influence of mother’s love. Children feeling loved by their father has an impact on their adult life – have a better sense of well-being, of happiness, of life satisfaction.2
At present, there is no provision on paternity leave for private sector employees as per the Indian Labour law. At Johnson & Johnson, we acknowledge and encourage the equal role that both parents increasingly want to play while welcoming a new life and to help delink parenting with gender parity.
“Parental leave truly allows us live into our values by putting people first—helping employees live well across their whole lives. We understand that supporting our employees extends beyond work and into other aspects of their lives,” add Indrajeet Sengupta, Head-Human Resources, Johnson & Johnson India.
Johnson & Johnson are committed to supporting our employees and their families through life’s big and small moments—offering compassion, understanding and the flexibility employees need. After all, Johnson & Johnson is not just a company: we are a family of 130,000 employees.
About Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson spread its root into India 70 years ago. Since then, the Company has brought many innovative ideas, products and services to improve the health and well-being of people in India. The Company today employs more than 3,500 people and is organized into three business segments: Consumer Healthcare, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals in India.
Media Contacts:
Joshina Kapoor
Johnson & Johnson India
+91 9820711080
jkapoor2@ITS.JNJ.com
Ishanee Roy
FleishmanHillard
+91 7738362250
ishanee.roy@fleishman.com
1 Paul G Ramchandani, Jill Domoney, Vaheshta Sethna, Lamprini Psychogiou, Haido Vlachos, and Lynne Murray, (2013, Jan), Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, “Do early father–infant interactions predict the onset of externalising behaviours in young children? Findings from a longitudinal cohort study”, 54(1): 56–64. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3562489/
2 Rohner, Ronald P.; Veneziano, Robert A., Review of General Psychology, “The importance of father love: History and contemporary evidence,” Vol 5(4), Dec 2001, 382-405. URL: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/gpr/5/4/382/